Kasper Tranberg with Hiroshi Minami

Live at Shinjuku Pit Inn September 26, 2002

Kasper Tranberg--trumpet, cornet
Mads Hyhne--trombone
Jakob Dineson--saxophone
Hiroshi Minami--piano
Niel Davidson--bass
Anders Mogensen--drums

Jazz has become an international language, spoken in more and more countries with greater and greater fluency. The dialects are not often mixed, though, so it was especially nice to hear the Danish jazz of Kasper Tranberg and his band mixed together with the piano of Hiroshi Minami. Old friends since their time together in Boston studying at Berklee, Tranberg and Minami have kept in touch by recording and playing together on a regular basis, more or less, given they live on opposite sides of the globe. Their recent CD, “Mortimer House,” recorded in Tokyo with the same personnel as at the Pit Inn gig, is a shining example of cutting edge jazz that mixes influences as easily as it moves between impressions, moods and styles. The CD, like their live show, was not unfocused, though. Their perspective is so broad that many diverse elements fit comfortably inside it. The Danish band members are obviously at home with less structured forms. They play with an emphasis on stretching and tugging at the fabric of their songs to find the limits of its plasticity. Though many groups attempt this exploration by purging the music of all feeling, Tranberg keeps the group’s self-awareness tempered by a keen sense of humor. The song titles, “It’s All Bamboo,” “Thank God Those Lesbians Knew CPR,” and “Green Side Up,” set a tone of playfulness that all the musicians stay within. While their music never swings for long, their energy is always abundant. Solos brought out all kinds of odd techniques, such as pinching the bass strings below the fret bar or pulling the trumpet key out of socket and smacking it against the bell. With a less confident group, these would have been simply gimmicks, but Tranberg and company always struck the right tone of having a good time and exploring. Minami’s playing livened up every song, with fast runs and unusually timed chording. It would be easy to say the Danish outlook and Japanese perspective on jazz have been similarly molded by their time in America, but one wonders how easily any other cultural expression could be handled by the combined craftsmanship of artists from such different backgrounds. Their collaboration is the best argument I know for more globalization, at least for jazz.